AHS response unit opens as hospitalizations soar

Facility to offer `overflow capacity' for recovering patients: Kenney

Alberta Health Services (AHS) opened its pandemic response unit in Edmonton as the province reported a pandemic high for COVID -19 hospitalizations for the sixth straight reporting day and 14 additional deaths.

There are 1,469 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, an increase of 51 from the previous day. Of those in hospital, 106 are in an intensive care unit, a drop of three patients from the previous day.

With the rise of hospitalizations across the province, AHS opened the pandemic response unit Thursday.

“This is a kind of overflow capacity for patients who are close to being released from hospital but they may need some ongoing monitoring and some ongoing health support,” said Premier Jason Kenney during Thursday's update. “We have not yet been in a position where we had to open the pandemic response unit in Calgary.”

Last week, Kenney said starting Jan. 24 or sooner an additional 18 beds were set to open in the response unit in Edmonton, while 12 were scheduled to open up in Calgary. He said a second batch of 18 and 12 beds would be available a week later.

The 14 Covid-related deaths reported by chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw on Thursday come after 22 were reported on Wednesday, 13 on Tuesday and the 41 deaths over the weekend reported on Monday.

While the number of Albertans in hospital continues to rise, the number of active cases across the province dropped for the seventh straight reporting day.

There are now 44,301 active cases of the virus in Alberta, a drop of 3,442 cases from the previous day. The Calgary Zone has the most active cases with 20,779, while the Edmonton Zone has 14,219.

SEE COVID-19 ON A2